New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday said that an INDIA action plan was ready to be rolled out after the five States Assembly polls, hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed concern that the opposition alliance for the 2024 national elections was going slow. “An action plan of the INDIA alliance was discussed in the Mumbai meeting and later at the Coordination Committee meeting. It is ready and will be rolled out after formalities of the five Assembly polls are over,” AICC functionary Syed Naseer Hussain told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, the action plan involves joint rallies in various state capitals, a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in which the INDIA alliance hopes to defeat the BJP. While there is general convergence among the alliance partners on the issues to be taken up for joint protests on price rise, unemployment, targeting of opposition leaders through central agencies and Chinese border incursions and the need for a social welfare agenda-driven CMP, the issue of seat-sharing is the most complex one, said the party insiders.
On Thursday, Nitish Kumar, who played a key role in the formation of the INDIA alliance, expressed concern that the alliance was going slow as the Congress was busy with the five Assembly polls. After the August 31 and September 1 Mumbai meeting of the INDIA alliance, the 11-member Coordination Committee of the grouping met in Delhi on September 13 and decided to hold a joint rally in Bhopal in the first week of October.
Also read: Some Cong leaders call for holding seat-sharing talks with INDIA bloc partners after assembly polls
However, the Madhya Pradesh Congress later cancelled the opposition alliance rally citing the state polls. According to Congress insiders, the first joint rally of the alliance could now be held in Patna after the results for five states Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram will be out on Dec 3.
Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh played down the comments of Nitish Kumar saying the Chief Minister wanted to remove PM Modi from the post as early as possible but the same would happen only at the appropriate time. “After all, the states form the country. Hence, the five state polls are very crucial for the party,” Singh told ETV Bharat. Congress insiders said that the grand old party wanted to discuss the 2024 seat-sharing with an open mind, but was also keen on increasing its bargaining power.
“Our feedback is that we are doing well in the five state polls. If we emerge stronger, we will certainly have a better bargaining position with our allies when it comes to seat-sharing. The seat-sharing talks were affected as our high command has been busy campaigning,” a CWC member said. The INDIA alliance recently came under stress when SP chief Akhilesh Yadav publicly expressed his displeasure at the denial of seven seats in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls and came out with his candidates on 46 seats. Nitish Kumar’s JD-U also joined the fray naming five candidates in MP. “The five state polls must be taken seriously as they are taking place just six months before the 2024 national elections. As far as seat-sharing in states is concerned, nothing was discussed with the allies at the Mumbai meeting,” said Hussain.
